After anti-fracking protesters loudly disrupted a Boulder County commissioners' hearing last week, sheriff's officials say they'll provide security Thursday afternoon when the elected leaders reconvene to make a decision on whether to allow oil and gas drilling on county lands.

Boulder County sheriff's Cmdr. Rick Brough confirmed that the department will "be involved" with Thursday afternoon's meeting on updated oil and gas regulations for unincorporated county lands. The session, which will not feature public comment, is scheduled to begin at 4 p.m. at the Boulder County Courthouse.

Sheriff's deputies do not regularly provide security at commissioners' meetings, Brough said, but the county's elected leaders can request police presence -- as they did with Thursday's hearing.

"We wouldn't staff it unless, for some reason, they had some concerns that there would be some issues," Brough said.

Brough declined to say how many deputies will be at the meeting, but noted "we're taking the appropriate precautions."

The uncommon call for a security stems from the county's Dec. 4 public hearing held on oil and gas regulations that was delayed by more than 30 minutes when protesters began chanting their opposition to fracking and demanding the commissioners resign if they refused to ban the controversial extraction method in Boulder County.

The next day, the Boulder County commissioners condemned the "mob harassment, cursing and intimidation" of some protesters, citing complaints that Ecana Oil and Gas USA representative Wendy Wiedenbeck was harassed and followed to her car following the meeting.

The county leaders last week issued a statement outlining a "security plan" for oil and gas meetings that calls for the removal of individuals who "elect not to participate in civil discourse," and the prosecution of people who threaten the safety of others at meetings.

Anti-fracking activists have indicated they'll protest Thursday's meeting as well, with a flier being circulated through a Facebook page called Boulder County Frack Attack that encourages protesters to arrive at the courthouse at 3 p.m. or earlier.

Cliff Willmeng, co-founder of the anti-fracking group East Boulder County United, attended last week's meeting and said he'll be at the courthouse again Thursday to make his opposition known. In his view, the commissioners' security plan is a means to stifle public criticism of the board's adoption of rules that will allow fracking despite what he characterized as opposition to the practice by a majority of county voters.

"(The commissioners) have made very tangible threats to anyone who is willing to defy the meeting's order and they are doing that as a capitulation to the state and to the oil and gas industry," Willmeng said. "It is very clear to us that the larger of a gap between the commissioners' plans and the public will to keep Boulder County free of fracking, the more repressive the measures they have to take."

Willmeng disputed the commissioners' assertion that protestor actions last week were aimed at "suppressing alternative comments and shutting out voices through intimidation and fear." He contended that if fracking was placed on the Boulder County ballot next fall, it would almost surely be banned, and that the commissioners' efforts to ignore that is what led protestors to disrupt last week's meeting.

"They know very well that they have been ignoring that demand from their community for many, many months," Willmeng said. "They have been given ample opportunity to respect the democratic will of Boulder County and people are going to naturally find way to make themselves heard."